The court said it was pre-mediated as the man had a motive to commit the offence. (File)
A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court for beating to death his live-in partner's three-year-old daughter with a rolling pin.
The man allegedly committed the crime after the woman refused to marry him.
The court said it was pre-mediated as the man had a motive to commit the offence.
Additional Sessions Judge Lalit Kumar convicted Narej Sheikh for the offence of murder under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
"Since the child was given beatings by the accused and he was very well aware about the tender age of the child, now it can be said there was premeditation in the commission of crime, even accused had motive to commit offence against the deceased. It is clear that the accused had intention to kill the deceased," the court said.
The court said the victim's mother was entitled for compensation under Delhi Government Compensation Scheme as she was not living with her husband and referred it to Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DLSA) for consideration. It also asked DLSA to release a minimum compensation prescribed to victims of a murder case.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the man.
The court relied on the testimony of the victim's nine-year-old brother who deposed that on the day of the incident, in 2016, Mr Sheikh had asked him to buy oil for cooking.
According to the boy, when he came back, he saw the man beating his sister with a 'belan' (rolling pin). He also saw that the man had caught the child by her legs and was hitting her against the ground.
The boy came outside and raised an alarm after which neighbours caught hold of the accused. He was beaten up by the neighbours who handed him over to the police.
When they took the child to the hospital, she was declared "brought dead" by the doctors.
According to the doctors, the cause of death was shock as a result of injuries to head, chest and abdomen produced by blunt force impact.